It is true that Madrid is a reception center for all the provinces of Spain and part of abroad. However, this has not prevented the traditional atmosphere remains one of the hallmarks of the city.

The capital has details that make it unique. Not only are its streets, its museums, its parks or the good atmosphere. Today we tell you some of the customs we have in Madrid that may surprise you.

Madrid folklore

Madrid is a community full of traditions, which has its own folklore and lives with intensity its parties, festivals and pilgrimages.
Madrid culture has three well defined and concrete times:

Castilian Madrid: At present, the dulzaina and the arrabel are some of the instruments that continue to play loudly in the festivals and pilgrimages of Madrid, interpreting the seguidillas, rondones and jacks of the time. Also the typical Castilian-Madrid clothing is frequent in Madrid.
Madrid Goyesco: The Goyesque era, apart from the attractiveness of its dances full of plastic sensibility, has the added value of the color of its costumes, which were used in its daily life by the “majería” of Madrid. Goyesque dances are bowling school dances, which were also danced at a popular level at parties, pilgrimages and festivals of that time.
Madrid castizo and chulapo: Being a Madrid chulapo is a way of behaving and a special attitude towards life, as well as expressing yourself correctly in the forum jargon (a traditional term to refer to Madrid) and putting on the parpusa (traditional Madrid cap). Its most fundamental symbols are the chotis and the organ.
The celebrations of San Isidro

As it was said at the time, San Isidro had the gift of easily finding water. The pilgrimage takes place in the Prairie of San Isidro and in the surrounding streets, and it is customary for the chulapos and chulapas to drink the “water of the saint” that springs in a spring attached to the Hermitage of San Isidro. This tradition is mixed with the snack of donuts and lemonade in the prairies of San Isidro.

The zarzuela

The history of the zarzuela is very close to the history of the capital. Madrid has been a source of inspiration for many works of this genre that reflected the social reality of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The zarzuela, genre very similar to the opera, is defined as a play in which many musical numbers are interpreted.

Among his most characteristic characters abound the pimps (individual of the popular classes of Madrid, which was distinguished by a certain affectation and beauty in the suit and in the way of driving), the rats (thieves), the nannies or the police.